CSCI 205: Programming for Non-Majors

Course Description:

This course teaches hands-on computer programming skills to students who are not computer science majors. This includes how to frame a problem as an algorithm, how to translate an algorithm to executable code, how to be sure the code does what you want. Programming assignments are drawn from a variety of domains, and develops practical scripting and demonstration over theory. This course is not open to computer science majors or minors.

Major Topics:

Basic Elements of Programming and Problem-solving

Variables and Types

Functions, Abstraction and Scoping

Simple Data Structures

Numerical Programming

Stochastic Programs, Probability and Random Walks

Understand Experimental Data

Visualizing and Plotting Results

Course Outcomes:

Upon successful completion of this course, a student will be able to

have confidence to write small programs

have computational skills that give an edge in competing for jobs

make effrective use of computational methods in his/her chosen field

Textbook:

Introduction to Computation and Programming Using Python, revised and expanded edition,